


you're not a little girl

by ohliamylia



Category: New World Magischola (Live-Action Roleplaying Game)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-22
Updated: 2020-06-22
Packaged: 2021-03-03 23:02:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 811
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24853516
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ohliamylia/pseuds/ohliamylia
Summary: It's a silly tradition.





	you're not a little girl

Yule usually comes and goes with little fanfare for Wander, a few days spent with friends the bright spot in a sea of empty winter weeks. Usually, she exchanges gifts, heart warmed to be able to give back in a tangible way to those she cares for. Usually, she returns to a quiet home and buries her loneliness in meditation and lesson plans and half-drunk cups of tea.

Unusually, Calico.

Calico, who sends a personal invitation to Wander, casually mentioning the performance of a certain play and how much he's looking forward to seeing her. Calico, whose enthusiasm is no less dimmed when Wander arrives late, delayed by her own anxiety and indecision. Calico, who meets her in an embrace as soon as he sees her.

Calico, who wishes for love.

He'd said it so casually, slipping past her to drop his paper into the bonfire, and though she'd turned to look after him it wasn't the flames that had warmed her face. His bravery only makes her regret the next morning more: a brief hug and a promise of... something, soon. She'd wanted to give voice to her anxieties, wanted to keep them from winning out over her joy, but instead she'd fled to the safety and comfort of home, of aloneness and denial.

She checks in on Ike, claiming to be curious about his plans for the rest of the year, and he asks about Calico, and Wander allows them both the lie that they're catching up on each other's gossip and not equally concerned about the time of year and their shared proclivity for hiding their feelings. That, too, ends with a vague assurance of more, a promise to see each other soon, at the beginning of the next semester. He promises to pass on her well-wishes to Kyneþryð, but encourages her to give them herself.

Kyneþryð's gift she sends through the mail, along with a thoughtful letter that absolutely does not mention Calico at all. She intends the distance to feel kind and respectful, but it just makes her feel far away.

The eve of the new year finds her as unchanged as ever, sitting by the fire, Ike's gift warm against her skin. Wander rolls the pendant between her fingers, her tea once more long forgotten, hoping that this time she will feel something of the power it possesses. The slight tingling, disappointingly, probably has less to do with magic and more to do with the numbness in the pads of her fingers from repeating this action so often.

It's more of a Mundane tradition, resolving to improve oneself every few hundred days, but Wander has always welcomed excuses to come out from her shell. She finds a pen and notebook and starts a list. Drink more water, of course, that's a big one. Appreciate what you have more. Check in with Trouble more. Apply for that research grant! How do we work our will? What really sets us apart from Mundanes? Sets the wizarding world apart from Mundanes. Sets you apart from the-

She closes the notebook. It's a silly tradition. She's constantly self-improving, and helping others do the same - she doesn't need to quantify that. She sets the list aside with her tea, hoping that proximity to something abandoned will encourage it to be forgotten. The feeling lingers, though, a restless urge, the sense that somehow everything has changed but nothing is different. It's too hard, now, to convince herself all over again that she enjoys the solitude, that she doesn't mind not spending time with her found family. That this is something she chooses, and not something she hides behind.

Her Catoptrics hand mirror sits by her elbow, and she reaches for it, hesitates, rests her fingers on the silvered surface and makes a request for Calico. The fog swirls, and spins, and finally disappates after an unbearably long minute - no answer. Heartbreak seizes her throat, childish and illogical. There are so many reasons he might not answer, and there's no reason to jump to because he doesn't want to. He could be asleep, or at a party, or-

A knock at the door interrupts her thoughts. She has never wished for magical ability so strongly over something so insignificant as wishing that she could instantaneously change out of her unicorn onesie and into something more reasonable. It is, at least, one of the cryptid onesies that's popular with Mundanes, so her neighbors usually only stare a normal amount when she fetches her mail.

She answers, and freezes, not because of the December air that greets her. Usually, the only knocks at her door are deliveries. Usually, no one comes to visit her, and certainly not unannounced. Usually, no one is standing in her doorway with a coordinating unicorn hat on his head and a bouquet of lilacs in his hand.

Unusually, Calico.


End file.
